Sainsbury's Business Strategies: A Report on Leadership and Management

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Contexts of Business
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Contents
Introduction.................................................................................................................................................3
1. A brief history and summary of the business you have selected and rationale for your choice............4
2. Discuss their, vision, leadership style and management practices and the various strategies making
use of various theories.................................................................................................................................5
3. Analyse how the above have been achieved or implemented by your specific company with specific
examples......................................................................................................................................................9
4. What could be your recommendations as an improvement to your company....................................11
Conclusion.................................................................................................................................................13
References.................................................................................................................................................14
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Introduction
Every business requires a suitable style to be adopted. These styles are better termed as
leadership and management traits. There are different styles of leadership adopted. Some of the
leadership style requires hard management skills like no decision making power is given to the
employees. They are just directed what they and how they have to do. On the other hand, there
may be some style in which very soft skills are adopted. The leader himself takes full part in
teams and guides the employees properly and actively listen their ideas and thoughts.
Sainsbury’s located in London, has been taken as an example for this assignment to answer all
the related questions and queries.
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1. A brief history and summary of the business you have selected and
rationale for your choice
A brief history of Sainsbury’s-
Sainsbury’s is a public limited company located at London, UK. It deals in retailing. It was
founded in 1869 by John James Sainsbury. It offers many products related to supermarket and is
ranked as second in UK. It offers variety of products. Thus, customers can find everything under
one roof. The products found here are- fruits, vegetables, dairy products, bakery products,
frozen, drinks, shakes, health related products, beauty, home, garden and many more. The firm
works to satisfy the needs of the customers and make them availability of each and everything at
a single platform. Now there are 1000+ shops located in UK. This company also provides
employment to more than 150,000 individuals. Thus, it can be said that it has become an
important part of the UK economy. The aim of the firm is to provide fresh food products at low
prices. It is therefore, it has maintained healthy relations with its customers (Sparks, 2016)
Rationale for choosing Sainsbury’s-
 It is quite a big organisation so it will be easy to understand strategies needed to be
applied here.
 It has huge force of employees working under it, so will give good platform to understand
employee relations.
 It deals with many varieties of products, so it will provide good scope in understanding
market conditions.
Moreover, it becomes easy to understand the design and development of organisations as it has
good domestic and international reputation.
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2. Discuss their, vision, leadership style and management practices and the
various strategies making use of various theories
Vision of Sainsbury’s-
Vision of Sainsbury’s is to build a trustful relationship with its customers and employees both.
Their main focus is their customers. They tend achieve this by investing in the working place and
in their stakeholders so that best products and services could be offered to them. They believe to
keep the customers as their first priority all the time.
Leadership style-
The leadership style can be defined as the style adopted by leader to provide guidance and to
motivate the subordinates in order to achieve the desired results. There can be different
leadership styles that are explained as below-
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Figure 1: Leadership styles (Nanjundeswaraswamy and Swamy, 2014)
Autocratic-
In autocratic style of leadership focus is laid on the leader alone. He has the only authority to
take all the decisions and tell about it to the subordinates to implement it, that also without
inquiring about it. No advice or consultation is seek from subordinates in this style of leadership.
Thus, entire focus is on the completion of task.
Democratic-
In this style, as opposed to autocratic style, fair discussions are help among leader and
subordinates on how and when decision should be taken. Thus, it is also called as participative
style of leadership. Although in this style, leader only guides and implements the important
decisions but fair discussions and held and subordinates are free to share their ideas and views.
Transformational-
The leaders who adopted this style can act as role model for the subordinates. They always tend
to guide them and conduct fair meetings and discussions with the subordinates so that they all
could solve the problem easily. In this style, main focus is to find the appropriate solution of the
problem. These leaders always motivate their subordinates to accomplish their goals in the best
way possible (McCleskey, 2014).
Laissez-Faire-
In this style of leadership, full authority is given to the subordinates. The leader here wants to
build a strong team for the organisation, therefore, all the power is given to the subordinates.
Power can be to solve the problems, assign the duties and to take decisions as well. Therefore,
leader keeps himself away from guiding the subordinates.
In addition to this, there are some management practices that are required to achieve the
concerned goals and targets. These are elaborated as below-
 Employee engagement- it is meant to engage the employees in different activities and
work so that they can enhance their skills and performance. Under this, various groups
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are formed and duties are assigned to them so that subordinates could engage themselves
and strengthen relations among themselves.
 Reward system- it is a very important management practice in which employees are
given suitable rewards according to their performance shown. Every employee wants his
identity to be recognised. Therefore, intrinsic or extrinsic reward according to their needs,
is awarded.
 Vulnerability- it states that employees are the building stones of the organisation and
leader must not interrupt them all the time. Employees must be given due attention and
respect they deserve.
 Commitment- it is very important for the leader to stay on the words said by him. Any
changing statement of his will create an environment of negativity towards organisation.
It is therefore, necessary to stay committed to ensure trust among employees.
 Clarity- the leader must clearly define the goals and duties to the employees. If the duties
are clear to the employees, it will be easy for them to achieve the goals.
 Building cultural cohesiveness- by word ‘cultural’ here means that all the persons
within an organisation must share values to yield best results. They all must have a
common goal of giving best and satisfying the consumers (Pfeffer, 2014).
 Focusing on teams- any distraction to the teams can cause a huge damage to the
organisation. It is therefore, recommended to keep a focus on team dynamics so that any
relevant help at the required time can be offered to them.
 Conducting meetings- regular meetings help to share ideas and thoughts. It helps to
discuss their purpose of being together at one place. The leader must ensure that all the
important discussions must be help during meetings.
Management strategies-
Strategies help to regulate the environment of the organisation controlling it in the best possible
manner. Strategies are best applied with the help of relevant management theories. These
theories are explained as below-
Scientific Management Theory-
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According to this theory, productivity cannot be attained by forceful work, rather tasks should be
simplified so that employees could enjoy. Nowadays, team works have been promoted to work
according to this theory.
Systems Management Theory-
According to this theory, an organisation is made up of smaller units. It is important to wisely
care about these units in order to manage the big component i.e. the organisation.
Contingency Management Theory-
This theory states that there is no fixed approach that fits the organisation all the time. It is the
traits of leader that he has to adopt different styles according to the situation. There are many
factors that affect the organisation and leadership style must be adopted in accordance to these
factors (Otley, 2016).
Theory X and Theory Y-
Different assumptions are followed in Theory X and Theory Y. In Theory X, the leader takes no
ideas from employees rather impose his decision on them. Thus, autocratic style is adopted. In
Theory Y, participative style is adopted in which all the employees and leader share their ideas
with each other and take decision collaborately.
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3. Analyse how the above have been achieved or implemented by your
specific company with specific examples
A leader is holds a very big responsibility of motivating the employees and guiding them in right
direction. Therefore, the leadership style chosen by him must possess all the qualities that are
needed to improve the skills of the employees. Most of the time, the leadership style chosen by
leaders of Sainsbury’s is Participative style of leadership. Thus, in this style though the power
of implementing decision remains in the hands of leader, but he seeks thoughts, ideas and views
of each and everyone involved. For example, whenever a new product has to be launched by
Sainsbury’s, meetings are held by the leader to share ideas about how, when the product must be
launched in order to get good profit. The market strategy is also discussed with them.
Information is also gathered about product pricing. All this is possible through participative style
of leadership. This style helps the employees to do self evaluation. Thus, enhancing their own
skills. Growth and promotion are additional advantages of this participative style. This style of
leadership is usually adopted with the experienced and old employees of Sainsbury so that
desired results could be achieved.
Implementing management practices at Sainsbury’s-
 Employee engagement- at Sainsbury’s, groups are formed to achieve a particular goal.
For example, in accounts department, group of employees is formed that are responsible
for comparing last year’s and current revenue generation so that relevant steps could be
taken timely. In this way, employees of Sainsbury’s are engaged (Anitha, 2014).
 Reward system- considering an example, the overall performance of employee dealing
in Public Relations is closely monitored and evaluated and on the basis of which suitable
reward is given. The reward depends upon the need of employee like it may be bonus
given or a domestic trip offered.
 Vulnerability- to achieve this practice at Sainsbury’s, open meetings are conducted. For
example, when Sainsbury’s wants to implement a new policy for the employees,
meetings are held to discuss its pros and cons. Open opportunity is given to employees to
share their views.
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 Commitment- it is never seen for Sainsbury’s that if it has promised to do something for
the stakeholders and did not do it. Sainsbury’s is very famous for its commitment towards
said words.
 Clarity- leaders of Sainsbury’s are very clear in stating responsibilities to its employees.
For example, the delegation of role and responsibility is often done in written form.
 Cultural cohesiveness- to achieve this, orientation programs are arranged for the new
employees of Sainsbury’s so that they must know what the organisation wants to achieve.
 Focusing on teams- whenever teams are formed at Sainsbury’s, full focus is laid on
teams formation. For example, leaders pay full attention to what is demanded by teams so
that relevant help could be given to them,
The management of Sainsbury’s understands well that employees are the important assets of it.
No positive output could be generated by any forceful work. The leaders have always tried to
listen to the needs and problems of employees. They also believe that no positive result could be
obtained without satisfying the employees. Thus, in this way the firm implemented Scientific
Management Theory. Consider an example to understand the System Management Theory at
Sainsbury’s. Sainsbury’s has been divided into different compartments like accounts, public
relations, sales persons, billing, and others too. Full attention is laid on these sections to take care
of the whole organisation. Contingency Management Theory is also applied at Sainsbury’s. For
example, it is not that always participative style is adopted here rather the leaders have to adopt
autocratic style too. Sometimes, there are situations at firm that decision needs to be taken by
authority only without employees’ involvement.
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4. What could be your recommendations as an improvement to your
company
Consider the following recommendations for improving proposed leadership style-
 No leadership style could be permanent in nature. Thus, leaders must have the ability to
change the style according to the business situation.
 Reflection is very vital here. The leader must have reflex for 15 to 20 minutes to think all
about the routine activities. In this way, better decisions could be taken by them.
 Giving examples of others- the employees will be motivated by giving them examples of
others. Thus, examples of role models should be taken.
 Listening employees- it is very important to listen to employees so that they must not feel
that they are ignored by the management. It can demolarise them.
Recommendations for improving management practices at Sainsbury’s-
 The management must try to conduct talent management system so that best employees
with best products can be chosen.
 More stress should be laid on reward system as it motivates the employees.
 Employees must be engaged in different groups for betterment of their skills and in
improving employee relations.
 The leaders must give some sort of authority to individuals so that they don’t feel
neglected. Rather they must be motivated in the right direction so that they consider
themselves as the important part of Sainsbury’s.
Recommendations for improving management strategies-
 Each employee must be given due importance and open meetings must be held in which
two sided conversation flow is there.
 The leaders must not hesitate while involving in different projects.
 Both verbal and written conversation must be improved.
 An environment of gratitude must be created.
 Understand the needs of the customers and satisfy them accordingly so that they remain
with Sainsbury’s for a longer duration.
 Learning from the past mistakes help to enhance the skills and talents.
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Thus, it can be concluded that by following the recommendations stated above, Sainsbury’s can
grow more tremendously and help its customers to get more satisfaction.
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